after John Keats

I have a sensation at the present moment as though

I was dissolving

into outer darks of

life’s edges, dark motes pestering

primordial surroundings

familiar, yet unknown to

a beating heart, teeming brain. will your heart never change? (will it?)

as mine does, withering slowly, victim of a consuming power not unlike

                  LOVE

I could die for that.

I could die for you.

like martyrs embrace fires of

punishment

as such I am burning

you my creed you my pyre a power I cannot resist, yet

understand that my love is selfish

leaving you exposed, alone , on the acidic heath that means

           LIFE

            exquisitely miserable. 

  I will eternalize.

it comes surely, I know this       but no stranger am I to it already I feel

I cannot breathe 

       without you 

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A note:

This poem is inspired by John Keats’ love letter to his fiancé Fanny Brawne, from October 1819. I took my favorite parts of the letter and built on them to create my own response.

https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/02/19/john-keats-love-letter-fanny-brawne/